(DIY) Advice on upgrading computer

[Sensational]

Hi guys, I am thinking of upgrading my 3 year old com with some new parts and I would gladly appreciate your input on the recommendations.

My specs now

CPU: Intel Core i5 750
MB: MSI P55-CD 53
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5870
Ram: 8gb - i think its DDR3 800MHz?
Hard disk - I have 2 hard drive which total to around 640gb i think.
PSU - I think its 600 plus watt if I not wrong, just changed a few years ago only.

Yea so these are my specs for now and I am looking to upgrade this com. Mainly going to use it for work and gaming. So I would appreciate the input from any pros on how to improve this set up.

In addition I have a few questions,
1) I am thinking of adding one more monitor to have a dual monitor set up. Just have one powerful graphic card is enough?
2) Can my hard drive still be used together with the newer technology of ssd now?

I guess that's for all. Thank you for your help!

 

[Alternative X]

1) Name all programs that you are using.

2) State brand and exact model of PSU.

3) What are you planning to do with the second monitor? Play games on 2 monitors or play with one monitor and use the second monitor for surfing the net/watch movie etc?

4) A SSD can be used with your mobo. SSDs and HDDs are just storage mediums, can't see why you can't use a SSD with a HDD.

5) State brand and model of casing used. If you forgot, give approx measurement of GPU clearance.

6) Budget?

 

[Sensational]

1) Name all programs that you are using.

2) State brand and exact model of PSU.

3) What are you planning to do with the second monitor? Play games on 2 monitors or play with one monitor and use the second monitor for surfing the net/watch movie etc?

4) A SSD can be used with your mobo. SSDs and HDDs are just storage mediums, can't see why you can't use a SSD with a HDD.

5) State brand and model of casing used. If you forgot, give approx measurement of GPU clearance.

6) Budget?

Thanks for the reply.

1) Usually word, ppt and pdf? Games would be like fifa 15, dota 2 and fps games like bf 4.

2) I can't check it right now but i guess if the psu cmi then I will just get another one to replace it then.

3) both of it? But i think one monitor will be used to do one task such as reading and another monitor will be used to do notes and stuff.

4) okay great that is good! I have seen some of the guide and they said get one ssd and another hdd?

5) my casing is coolermaster cm690.

6) budget should be arnd $1.5k - 1.8K? but of course can cheaper then better lo. haha.

 

[Piezoq]

1. Back up your data (somewhere else) and get a new 2-4tb HDD to replace the current pair. HDDs used as system drives tend to fail earlier than those used for pure storage.

2. If you'd like to splurge, add a SSD to the mix. A 128GB drive will do. Perhaps Samsung 840 or Crucial MX100. You'll notice a big difference from your current setup.

3. Change the GPU. Depending on your budget, grab one (either Nvidia or AMD) with a TDP < 150W, unless you're a serious gamer with a hunger for frame rates.

4. Depending on your ram config (4gbx2 or 2gbx4), you may want to maximize the ram to 16GB and allocate 4GB as a ramdisk for temp files and browser cache. That helps with performance too. With 8GB, you can try a 2GB ramdisk but some games may be memory-hungry.

5. I suggest changing the PSU too. The cheaper ones often leak after a few years and may cause electrical problems. Gold or platinum-rated ones are rather affordable nowadays. Seasonic is probably the top brand, while Golden Flower and the like offer value. My advice: don't scrimp on the PSU. A faulty PSU can cause silent data corruption, fry parts or even an electrical fire. Personally, I'll keep a top-end PSU for no more than 5-7 years, and 3-5 years for lesser models.

 

[Alternative X]

1) Would be better to use just 1 monitor for gaming. Dual-monitor gaming would need a much stronger GPU if you wish to game in 2 monitors in max settings. However, a Zotac GTX 970 Twin Fan ($448) should be enough for gaming at max settings with 1 monitor. Can try dual-monitor gaming, but smooth gameplay not guaranteed.

2) Your mobo has 6 SATA ports. Since 1 SATA port is used for your DVD-RW, if you are feeling a bit crazy, can use the 5 SATA ports for an SSD and 4X 6TB HDDs for your warez/seafood, also can.

If you are feeling too rich, can also use the 5 SATA ports to connect 5 SSDs, also can.

The only limiting factor that will allow you to use more SSDs/HDDs in your system is the number of SATA ports on your mobo, but also can buy RAID card to add more SATA ports into your system and cram more HDDs and SSDs into your system.

3) Overall, just get a Zotac GTX 970 Twin Fan for $448, a Crucial MX100 256GB for $160 and if your PSU CMI, a Superflower HX 600 for $99. There will be no bottlenecks and limitations with your old system that will affect your upgrades whatsoever.

 

[Sensational]

thank you all for the reply. so that means my cpu and mb don't need to change at all? I was under the impression that they are kinda outdated already since they are like 3 years old already?

As for the ssd and hdd i guess i would go with your suggestion and add a ssd and a 2tb hdd. Ram wise increase to 16gb? haha. as for psu i guess i will also change since i think it is also quite old already.

 

[Sensational]

oh is there any recommendations for a good monitor as well? 24 or 26 inch? haha

 

[Alternative X]

thank you all for the reply. so that means my cpu and mb don't need to change at all? I was under the impression that they are kinda outdated already since they are like 3 years old already?

As for the ssd and hdd i guess i would go with your suggestion and add a ssd and a 2tb hdd. Ram wise increase to 16gb? haha. as for psu i guess i will also change since i think it is also quite old already.

oh is there any recommendations for a good monitor as well? 24 or 26 inch? haha

1) Can also just reuse your old HDDs, no harm doing so unless they are failing.

2) 8GB RAMs are generally good enough for gaming unless the game has memory leak issues, you do not need 16GB RAMs.

3) Dell S2440L, $229.

4) Exactly how old is your PSU? Good quality ones should be good for 5-8 years.

 

[Sensational]

1) Can also just reuse your old HDDs, no harm doing so unless they are failing.

2) 8GB RAMs are generally good enough for gaming unless the game has memory leak issues, you do not need 16GB RAMs.

3) Dell S2440L, $229.

4) Exactly how old is your PSU? Good quality ones should be good for 5-8 years.

oh alright thanks for the recco! i think my psu is arnd 3 years also?

edit: i just checked my psu. Its andyson f650 so i guess the psu should be fine?

anw just to clarify. there is no need for me to change my cpu and motherboard?

 

[Alternative X]

oh alright thanks for the recco! i think my psu is arnd 3 years also?

edit: i just checked my psu. Its andyson f650 so i guess the psu should be fine?

anw just to clarify. there is no need for me to change my cpu and motherboard?

Your PSU should be OK. There is no need to change your mobo and CPU.

 

[Sensational]

Your PSU should be OK. There is no need to change your mobo and CPU.

okay thanks so much man! then i guess i can go ahead with my upgrade already. haha

 

[Sensational]

oh just another question, if I am thinking of getting a 27 inch monitor as my 2nd monitor, will the set up that is recommended be able to play the games such as cs:go, fifa 15, dota 2 and bf 4 on max settings on this monitor?

plus I have been researching around and the best 27 inch monitor is Dell u2713hm?

 

[Alternative X]

oh just another question, if I am thinking of getting a 27 inch monitor as my 2nd monitor, will the set up that is recommended be able to play the games such as cs:go, fifa 15, dota 2 and bf 4 on max settings on this monitor?

plus I have been researching around and the best 27 inch monitor is Dell u2713hm?

Erm..... the Dell U2713HM is a 1440p monitor and will set you back by $749. Not to mention that if gaming on a 1440p monitor with 1X GTX 970, you are going to get 30+ FPS with the 1440p monitor alone at max settings.

Best to get a Dell S2715H for $399 instead as it is a 27'' 1080p monitor.

 

[Sensational]

Erm..... the Dell U2713HM is a 1440p monitor and will set you back by $749. Not to mention that if gaming on a 1440p monitor with 1X GTX 970, you are going to get 30+ FPS with the 1440p monitor alone at max settings.

Best to get a Dell S2715H for $399 instead as it is a 27'' 1080p monitor.

thanks for the quick reply man. but would that 1440p and 1080p make a difference? the 23 inch monitor that I have now is also 1080p and i guess the human eye can only see that much pixels. haha

 

[Alternative X]

thanks for the quick reply man. but would that 1440p and 1080p make a difference? the 23 inch monitor that I have now is also 1080p and i guess the human eye can only see that much pixels. haha

People mentioned that 1440p graphics is sharper, don't need that much AA for good graphics quality, but need a lot more GPU power to game at 1440p. (Lets not even talk about 4K gaming....)

 

[Sensational]

People mentioned that 1440p graphics is sharper, don't need that much AA for good graphics quality, but need a lot more GPU power to game at 1440p. (Lets not even talk about 4K gaming....)

haha nah 4k is out of budget plus I am not a designer or anything man. so if i am getting that monitor and to run games on that 1440p smoothly i guess i would have to SLI 2 GPU?

 

[Alternative X]

haha nah 4k is out of budget plus I am not a designer or anything man. so if i am getting that monitor and to run games on that 1440p smoothly i guess i would have to SLI 2 GPU?

My bad, I have made a mistake. A quick check on Battlefield 4 GPU benchmarks has shown me that smooth 1440p gameplay is possible on a single GTX 970. (I had underestimated the GTX 970.)

However, a 1440p monitor is still not very cheap and I would still suggest that you stick to 1080p.

However, if you do not mind having to send your monitor to South Korea for RMA, can go to Qoo10 and get one of those Qnix 27'' 1440p monitors for $300+.

 

[Sensational]

My bad, I have made a mistake. A quick check on Battlefield 4 GPU benchmarks has shown me that smooth 1440p gameplay is possible on a single GTX 970. (I had underestimated the GTX 970.)

However, a 1440p monitor is still not very cheap and I would still suggest that you stick to 1080p.

However, if you do not mind having to send your monitor to South Korea for RMA, can go to Qoo10 and get one of those Qnix 27'' 1440p monitors for $300+.

haha yea thanks for the suggestion man. was just looking around at some monitors to do my dual set up. the price leap is really quite huge man. so for a 27 inch monitor, are there any other recco apart from the dell one? haha.

 

[Alternative X]

haha yea thanks for the suggestion man. was just looking around at some monitors to do my dual set up. the price leap is really quite huge man. so for a 27 inch monitor, are there any other recco apart from the dell one? haha.

Can also consider the AOC i2757fh for $359. 27'' 1080p monitor with IPS panels like the Dell.

Do note that any 27'' monitor with a massive price leap over $300+ is very likely to be a 1440p monitor.

 

[Sensational]

Can also consider the AOC i2757fh for $359. 27'' 1080p monitor with IPS panels like the Dell.

Do note that any 27'' monitor with a massive price leap over $300+ is very likely to be a 1440p monitor.

haha yea thanks i was looking at the price range for the monitors. just another question, is it advisable to do a SLI for the GPU? Maybe just to future proof the com or just have one GPU and change accordingly when the time comes